2001 November -- Honda Racing's Ricky Carmichael won this weekend's THQ U.S. Open of Supercross in convincing fashion. The Florida native simply dominated the entire event and easily collected the coveted $100,000 grand prize.

"It feels great to win here for Honda," said Carmichael. "We have only just begun testing, so I wasn't sure if I was even going to compete this weekend. Finally, we made the decision to go and everything just turned out awesome! I'm looking forward to the 2002 season."

It quickly became a mess on the track.

Carmichael launched out of the gate in both Friday and Saturday night's main events. The Red Rider never looked back and rode his 2002 CR250R to his 2nd THQ U.S. Open of Supercross Championship title. "RC" won the prestigious event in 2001, and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Open twice.

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LaRocco rode well in the event also. On Friday night, the "Rock" rode his Honda CR250R to a strong third place finish, giving Honda two positions on the podium for the evening. Saturday evening saw LaRocco recover from a first-turn tumble as he stormed through the pack to finish fifth, giving him fourth overall for the event.

"It was tight racing out there", said LaRocco. "You had to be physical to pass and that's what I did. I was hoping to be up at the front in Saturday's main event, but I crashed along with Tim Ferry in the first turn and had to charge through the field".

In the 4-stroke race, world-renowned snowmobile champion Blair Morgan and pro motocrosser Keith Johnson went 1-2 riding lightly modified 2002 Honda CRF450Rs.

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